


Not his goddamn Kid you don’t

by nathangoddamndrake



Category: Uncharted
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 09:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nathangoddamndrake/pseuds/nathangoddamndrake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cutter’s hands fold over Nathan’s neck, squeezing tighter still, and Sully draws his gun without a second thought. “Like a rabid dog.” A written version of one of my favourite scenes from Uncharted 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not his goddamn Kid you don’t

Shuffling through a narrow crevice in the wall, Sully’s hands twitch at his sides. He couldn’t claim to have claustrophobia, not to the degree that Charlie clearly did, but the scraping of rock against his chest still leaves him anxious and eager to come out onto the other side.

“I think I see light,” Chloe announces in a hushed voice, a few steps ahead of him, bathed in the orange light from her torch. “Has Nate made it in yet?”

“Don’t think so,” Sully listens for the boy’s trademark footfalls, but he’s unable to turn his head in the tight space. A cold feeling tickles the back of his neck. “We should go back.”

“What?” She breaks through to the other side with a greedy gasp, turning then to flash him a scowl. It only lasts a second, a moment of selfishness at not wanting to slide back through the tiny gap again, but she complies a breath later.

“They’re fine.” Chloe voices aloud Sully’s concerns, giving him a friendly slap on the arm and passing off the torch to him when he reaches for it.

“Sure.” He agrees tersely, throwing himself back into the passageway with a renewed sense of dread. They should have waited, they shouldn’t have gone on ahead, a pesky voice hisses in his ear while another stubbornly argues the fact that Nathan was a—mostly—capable adult, and could look after himself.

The sounds of a struggle become more prominent as they’re about to reach the opening, and Sully fumbles his torch in an instinctive reach for his gun.

But it isn’t Talbot’s men clad in their fancy black suits, holding guns to his friends’ heads or shooting them up with mysterious drugs—it’s Cutter. He has Nate on his knees, fingers holding the boy around the neck while Nathan claws desperately at the man’s hands.

“Cutter!” Sully yells in alarm, throwing himself at the mammoth of a man only to have his efforts ignored entirely. He yanks at the man’s arms to no avail while Chloe whirls around and takes a non-violent stab at getting him to see reason.

It only takes one final glance at Nate’s face to solidify his resolve. He stumbles backward two steps and draws his gun from it’s holster.

Chloe shouts out in protest, but Sully doesn’t hear it. His finger is poised on the trigger and he will pull it, so help him God.

There was very little that Victor Sullivan would not do for his Kid, and if that meant gunning down a friend to save him—it wasn’t even a contest. Maybe that should scare him, and maybe it should scare him more that it doesn’t. Not even a little.

“Charlie, listen to me! You are _killing_ Nate!” She begs him to see reason, eyes darting back toward the barrel of that gun and she knows. She knows she’s going to lose one of her friends to save another, and she can’t make that choice herself.

Charlie’s hands release and Nate crumples like a puppet with it’s strings cut, sputtering and gasping. Sully holsters his gun and allows Chloe to help the man up, quickly offering Nate his arm to lean on, a hand on his back where it rubs broad circles into the fabric of his shirt. Nate doubles over, gasping still.

Nate stumbles forward, reclaiming his discarded torch and lighting it once more. Charlie stutters through an apology, one that Nate seems to begrudgingly accept, in the interest of completing their mission.

So Sully will hold onto it for the both of them.

“Hold on a second,” Cutter whirls around, eyes fixing on Sully now. His lips turn up into a nervous grin, and a breathless laugh as he asks: “You weren’t—“ He releases a breath and the smile increases. “—You weren’t gonna shoot me, were you, mate?”

With a lift of his shoulders, Sully’s response is flat and quick: “Like a rabid dog.”

“Wow…” Cutter’s taken aback, eyes darting toward Nate, as if in disbelief. Like he couldn’t possibly believe that that one man was worth taking another’s life without any hesitation. A _friend’s_ life.

Nate glances away while gesturing toward the passage and breathlessly announcing that he would be going first this time, still dragging in a shaky breath here and there, struggling to regain normalcy.

Chloe trails behind him, slipping in after Nate while Charlie gestures for Sully to follow her in. He stops at the mouth of the channel, his jaw hard set and his eyes narrowed.

“Oh no. I’m not turning my back on you just yet.” He promises gruffly. “After you.”

“Huh.” Charlie scoffs, his mind still reeling and allowing himself to be surprised—he really shouldn’t be. He thinks he’s starting to get it now, and vaguely wonders just how many lives Sullivan would be willing to trade for the well being of his adoptive son.

“Oh, great… Next thing I know you’ll be putting that gun to the back of my head telling me about the rabbits.” He manages to snark, head turned away so that he misses the grim smile Sully shoots him.

“Hey, play nice, boys.” Nate calls back, his breathing less labored and his coughs less frequent. Sully feels an invisible vice around his heart begin to loosen.

Nate was going to get them all killed one day in a fiery explosion in some lost city, Sully was sure of it.

But he would _fucking damned_ if he outlived that boy.


End file.
